I had planned to ride Greg’s Quest this winter, all the while watching for a good deal on a used velomobile, so that by next winter, I would have my own. That plan was still in its infancy stage, when it took a sudden turn this week, and I now own a WAW. It’s a WAW@2014, serial number WAW231.

By the time you add the options you’d want to a new version of any of the top of the line velomobiles, and pay shipping to get it from Europe, the price is usually $10,000+. I’m semi-retired now, and that kind of price tag is more than my budget will allow. I had set my max price for a velomobile at $5,000. That price will get you the kit version of the FAW+ velomobile that’s being built in Midland, and I’d decided that if I hadn’t found a really nice used one by next fall, that’s exactly what I’d get. The FAW+ isn’t comparable to top of the line velomobiles, but I thought it would be passable for what I wanted in a velomobile.

The first step in my plan was to re-join the bentrider online forum. I’d frequented it years ago, but my login had quit working, and I could never successfully recover my password. I’d quit posting there a long time ago anyway. I found the place to be full of self proclaimed “experts” who knew next to nothing, but were always ready to argue with anyone who did. Those were the ones who’d reply first to any question asked, then argue with anyone who posted otherwise. I got frustrated with all the bad information that was being posted on the largest recumbent forum around, and left. But, I knew that was where most velomobiles for sale would be posted, and you can’t view photos or reply to a poster unless you’re a member and logged in, so it was time to put all that aside, and re-join the forum.

Last month, a member posted his WAW for sale, and by this week, his asking price had been lowered to $5,000. The original owner intended to get into riding when he bought it, but never quite did, and had now moved on to other hobbies. He had paid almost $11,000 for it, but now he just wanted it gone, at the best price he could get. The WAW had body damage, but almost no miles on it, the perfect combination for a bargain, and when the price got down to that magic number, I couldn’t resist pouncing on it. This is a nicer velomobile than I ever thought I’d end up with.

The WAW computer’s odometer shows just 11 total miles, and the original owner said he’d only done two short rides in it, so I suspect that odometer mileage is correct.

I knew that the new version of the WAW, which Katanga has been manufacturing in the Czech Republic for the last couple of years, was among the best of velomobiles, but I did not know many of the nice things about it until I researched more thoroughly after spotting this used one. Unlike the Quest, the WAW’s front wheels are on the outside. This gives the WAW a better turning radius than the Quest, but makes its aerodynamics not quite as good as the Quest. But the carbon fiber version of the WAW which I now own, weighs just 60 pounds, making it 25 pounds lighter than the Quest. So, anything the WAW might lose to aerodynamics on the flats, it should easily make up for on the hills.

The other major thing that caught my eye was how easy the WAW is to work on. You don’t realize how hard a Quest is to work on until you try it. I had to replace a front derailler cable on Greg’s Quest, as well as rotate the derailler a bit, to get it to shift into its smallest chainring. That’s not a tough task on a bicycle at all, but the only way I could do it on the Quest was to roll it onto its side, and work through the foot holes. It gave the feeling of trying to assemble one of those ships in a bottle.

With the WAW, both the nose cone and tail are removeable, and removing just two bolts lets you pull off a cover and open up a large access port up front. It makes everything easy to reach and work on. More velomobiles should be made this way. And the fit and finish on the WAW are really good. It even gives you a small dash panel. The brackets for its aerodynamic mirrors also serve as swivels to let the top pivot up and down. There’s just a lot to like about the WAW. And this one has lots of options, including a SRAM Dual Drive, 90mm drum brakes, and carbon fiber wheel covers.

The rear section of the WAW is removeable, so you can easily access the rear wheel and derailler.

Removing two bolts opens up this large access port in front.

The top flips up, for entry and exit from the WAW. With it held at a 45 degree angle, it will pull right off (like removing a pickup tailgate).

I figured that before I returned Greg’s Quest to him, I’d take some photos of the WAW beside it, for comparison. The Quest is a bit taller and wider than the WAW. The opening for the rider is a couple of inches lower on the WAW, making it easier to step into, but it’s also almost three inches narrower. The WAW is smaller inside, too. It’s big enough for me (I’m 5′ 9″, 185 lbs), but wouldn’t accommodate as large a rider as the Quest would.

It’s time to return Greg’s Quest, I guess. It barely fits in the bed of my truck. With its removable tail section, the WAW is a much easier fit, as I found out when I made the long drive home with it.

I’m still cleaning, lubing, and adjusting on the WAW, and haven’t done my first ride with it yet. It’s still a bit warm in Texas for velomobile riding anyway, but it will soon be time for its maiden voyage. I’ve been debating whether or not I should name it. The Great Pumpkin, maybe? Orange Crush, or perhaps Texas Tangerine?

I took off this morning and rode my normal 30 mile loop. It was my first time doing my normal route in the Quest. I still need to do some adjusting on the shifting, but the Quest performed very well. One of the questions I had was about how the ride on these roads would be in a Velomobile. My roads are rough. And a trike rides rougher than a bicycle. It’s just a basic three wheels versus two wheels thing. And you can’t dodge holes and rough spots nearly as well with three wheels, either. But the Quest, with its suspended ride and wide tires, actually rode smoother on these roads than my bikes do. I was impressed. It’s pretty obvious that most folks around here haven’t seen a velomobile before. The reactions to the Quest were crazy.

It’s too soon to do speed comparisons, but I couldn’t resist doing them anyway. I’ve been wondering how the Quest’s speed would compare with my F-5. Recumbent bicycles have a different speed profile than upright bikes. If you compare a racing recumbent with a racing upright bike, the recumbent will be faster on the downhills and flats, but slower on uphills. The recumbent doesn’t gain enough on downhills to make up for what it loses on uphills, so the bottom line tends to be that on a flat route, the recumbent will be faster, but on a hilly route, the upright will be the faster bike.

With a velomobile, the differences are even more dramatic. It’s weight and superior aerodynamics makes it even faster on a downhill, but slower yet on an uphill. But, as with all pedal vehicles, the strength of the rider makes the biggest difference in how fast a particular vehicle will be. It’s even more pronounced on a velomobile. The reason is that to gain any advantage from the velomobile’s superior aerodynamics, you have to be riding 13 to 18 mph or faster. Below that range, rolling resistance is the biggest obstacle to speed, and with its heavier weight and wider tires, a velomobile rider will be slower in it than he would be on a bike. Yet, when above that speed range, the same amount of power on the pedals will move the velomobile faster than any other pedal vehicle.

So if you are a slow cyclist, you’ll actually be slower in the heavier velomobile than you would be on a bicycle. But a racer can gain a lot of speed in a velomobile. So, for me, somewhere in between a slow cyclist and a racer, I wondered how the Quest would compare with my F-5, a pretty fast recumbent, on the roads I ride. I don’t have a power meter on any of my bikes, but looking at my average heart rate, versus the speed it produces on the F-5 and Quest, should be a pretty good comparison. There can be a pretty wide variety of average speed and average heart rate on my rides. But a 15 mph average is pretty normal for me. On slower days, either I was at a recovery pace, or there was a lot of wind, or some other out of the ordinary factor. On days where I averaged faster than 15 mph, I was definitely putting out more than a normal effort.

I looked at the last few weeks of riding. On my 30 mile rides on the F-5, on the days I averaged 15 mph, my average heart rate varied from 123 to 135. On this first ride in the Quest, on the same route, I averaged 16.9 mph. But my average heart rate was 142. So, while I was faster, it was a harder effort that produced it. I need some more rides to do a more valid comparison. But it does look like the Quest will be at least as fast as the F-5, if not a bit faster. I’m thinking it will make an excellent winter ride.

But, considering I’m only working part time these days, the Quest is a bit more than I can afford for my long term winter ride, unless I run across an especially good deal on one. But even if I have to settle for a velomobile that’s a bit slower than a Quest, it looks like it won’t be very much slower than my normal riding. But, I’m getting ahead of myself. For now, it’s time to just enjoy riding Greg’s Quest.

The Quest.

The view from within.

I took off on the F5 this morning and rode my Martin Mills Metric route. Today’s 60 miles, along with two 30 mile rides during the week, gave me 120 miles for the week. It was 55 degrees when I took off this morning, with a brisk north wind. Fall is definitely in the air.

On FM 3080, about 12 miles into the ride. I hit a dog. It’s a large dog that’s been a problem for me for a while. It often gives chase as I pass its house, but worse than giving chase, it likes to run back and forth in front of me. I’ve come very close to hitting it before. With most of the dogs I’ve encountered, a spray in the face from the special dog training fluid (read: ammonia) in my spray bottle, and they don’t come as close again. This one has been an exception, and keeps coming after me. As I approached him this morning, he rose from his spot on the ground and ran toward me. I was still in the act of retrieving my spray bottle from the bottle cage with my left hand when I hit him with my front wheel.

It’s the second time I’ve hit a dog on the bike since I moved here three years ago. At least I wasn’t going nearly as fast this time as I was when I hit a dog in 2014. Fortunately, I didn’t run over him. My front tire struck him in the shoulder, knocking him off to the side. I quickly got my left hand back on the handlebar and brought myself to a wobbly stop, without going down. He jumped up and hightailed it back up his driveway and out of sight. So thankfully, we both survived. Hopefully, he’ll take a better lesson from this than he has from the spray bottle.

Today’s route.

I took off on the F5 this morning and rode a variation of my State Highway 19 Loop. The seven mile stretch of FM 1861 that I always ride has been repaved with fresh boulder seal, so I skipped it and came back on FM 2709 instead. I don’t much like it. It’s rolling hills have too many blind spots where drivers tend to pass too close. FM 1861 has so little traffic that it’s going to take that new boulder seal a long time to smooth out. One more rough stretch of road added to too many miles of rough road around here already.

I ended up with 52.3 miles today. With Wednesday afternoon’s 40 miles and Thursday morning’s 30 miles, that gave me 122 miles for the week. I had ridden 120 miles each of the two previous weeks, and finished the month of September with 510 miles. That’s a decent month for me, and keeps me on pace to make my mileage goal for the year.

It was 59 degrees this morning, and pretty cool on Thursday morning, as well. I wore shorts both days, but went with long sleeves. I hadn’t done that in quite a while; I’m glad to finally see some cooler fall weather.

Today’s version of the State Highway 19 Loop route.